Adkison's Gen Con report

[Teflon Billy]

One of my friends decided this year he wasn't going to play in any sanctioned events, and I followed his lead.

I didn't sign up for anything, and I played my brains out. ...

This is always my pattern. registering for things is for suckers, it has seldom worked out for me, and when the games actually occr, they have been less than stellar.

It's the age of the internet, follow the pattern of Piratecat Leopold: arrange your own games. You will be less dissapointed I assure you.

 

[herald]

I agree with that.

When I first went to GenCon in 1989, there were a ton of different games to play. GMs with no connection to the publishers just ran games that they liked. I ran an Ars Magica tournament for four years straight because I liked the game. Over the past ten years the number of games seems to have dropped, and its become more and more incumbent on publishers to organize things. However, publishers often concentrate on demo games, in the hopes of acquiring new players. I'd like to see more GMs step up and run cool games for experienced players. Some of my best GenCon memories are games of this kind and I'd hate to see them go by the wayside.

That's exacly my point and I'm glad you agree with me. I find that in the one game that was run by someone who was not affiliated with a game company ROCKED. It was a great game. I'm normally not a FR fan, but his game was very well thought out.

And I feel that I learn from others when I play the game in this way. There should be some way of encouraging DMs to come to the con to run 2-4 games.

Now I have to admit, I feel I'm in a put up or shut up moment here, so, I just might have to do something (meaning run 2-4 games) about this next time I go.

Now I know that there are programs in place to get these volenteer GMs to the con, but to be honest, as I said before, there not very well advertized. Maybe what Peter Adkinson should consider doing is coming up with a "GenCon Game Master Network" to try and get some kind of bigger turn out of DMs/GMs.

It doesn't have to be much, just maybe a E-mail group that keeps tabs of members and comes up with suggestions on what to do to prepare for the Con. It just occurs to me that if your going to run a GenCon every two months then your planning and coordinating doesn't every really stop.

Does this make sense?

 

[herald]

7. Friendly people of Indianapolis

I don't think that this can be overstated. Indy seem to really be please that we were there. Our hotel really was concerned with how we liked the city and thier service. Big thumbs up.

BTW. Did any one go out walking around the government buildings? There is a canal that has been converted into public space. WOW, very pretty. Nice to see a large water feature that didn't have garish safety rails to protect me from my own stupidity. Really bravo to the city planners.

 

[herald]

Smelling the sewer all over town was pretty nasty. Especially after a dozen hours of gaming, a couple cups of coffee and no food.

PS

I honestly didn't notice. Strange

 

[Pielorinho]

I didn't play in any sanctioned games -- rather, I played in Piratecat's Spycraft game, and in FDP's Against the Giants game. But I ran a sanctioned game. While I tried to make it fun, I felt pretty limited by having to run a published adventure that I didn't think was any great shakes.

Although the idea of running four games and thereby getting a free badge is appealing, probably next year I'll come up with a one-shot that I'll run myself for other ENWorlders. As long as i know that I can fill slots, this sounds like more fun to me.

Daniel

 

[herald]

Well, I would want to run a game that I came prepared for as well. The sanctioned game I ran in was pretty good, but it wasn't alloted enough time. And the DM felt that he was some what uncomfortable running it.

Bottom line, to get more games there has to be more DM/GM freedom and or incentive. IMHO YMMV.

 

[Vanye]

Re: Better Plans for Next Time

11) Back-up computers should be laptops. They are easier to transport and store, and quicker to set up.

As far as I saw, ALL the computers were laptops. Certainly the ones in the event registration and generic ticket booths were...

 

[King_Stannis]

Re: Re: Re: Adkison's Gen Con report

Why I oughtta...! *Shakes mighty fist*

Hey, if we're sticking up for Avalanche Press count me in, bro. We can fight back to back.

Seriously, good D20 product (did they not win an Ennie?) and titilating covers? What more could people want?

 

[Vanye]

I'm thinking of running a game or two next year. My one real reservation about it is that I tend to have a soft voice. When I ran a game in the open gaming room this year for some friends, I had to repeat myself several times so that they could hear me. I can see that happening again, and while friends may put up with it, would non-familiar gamers? I don't know.

Still, once I finish the adventure (I'm currently running it for my regular tuesday night gaming group) I'm going to work on it some more, put some polish into it, and think very hard about running it next year...

 

[woodelf]

i'm a member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). they have an orientation the first day where everyone has a meet and greet. although only ~10000 people it is still nice. multiple computers for messages only for those attending the con. and a place to plug in laptops if you want to go off site visiting. limited to 10 mins. when seminars cancel. signage. or move include a map to the new location. use the PA system more in the exhibit hall. a place to meet and greet set aside for that purpose. refreshments or entertainment for those in long lines.

all three of my events cancelled. none of the DMs showed. and i wish i had a chance to know beforehand. i would've found alternate events or seminars.

I'm not sure what you mean by "use the PA system more"--you don't *really* want them to announce every single cancelled game that way, do you? There'd probably be half-a-dozen event changes announced every half hour --it'd be insane. And, speaking as a somewhat-long-time attendee of GenCon, essentially *nobody* wants to hear the PA system. Period. Every time there's an announcement, the attendees ignore it, and the vendors roll their eyes. Especially since the vast majority of the announcements are of things in the program book (like celebrity signings)--so those who care are already aware of them, and the rest of us don't care.

As for cancelled events: it'd be nice to have people looking after the game events, as at Origins. But, odds are, most of those no-show events, the staff didn't know about them any sooner than you did. It's likely that nobody knew beforehand that the GM wouldn't show. Heck, it's possible the GM didn't know she wasn't going to show until 5min beforehand--sometimes things come up. It's really annoying, i know (though, believe it or not, having a well-prepared scenario and have no players show is probably even more frustrating). But i just don't see how they could possibly know ahead of time for all the games.